Miriel and the Age of Stars
A thought occurred to me last time I visited Miriel. The church of vows was always strange to me, because besides the basin and Miriel’s ability to teach sorcery/miracles, what is the point of this place? It gives a little lore, but more than that, what? I mean realistically, what are the themes of his philosophy, and why are they found nowhere else in a game about ideology?
This is more of a thematic note than a ground breaking revelation, but I realized the only other place these ideas are found is in the age of stars. Every ending has their salesman, but the age of stars is lacking in anyone who appreciates the consequences of the age itself. Ranni’s company speaks of your vows and little of the age, and Ranni herself dissuades you from joining her in the cosmos.
The conjoining of two houses is exactly what rannis ending is. A tarnished, a direct result of the golden order who sees grace, weds a carian queen completely heretical to the order her consort is born of. It is a mirror of radagon and rennala, though this is not as hard to see. The wedding of the two gives this idea of peace found in wartime, peace despite a deadly disagreement between the two. It is a ray of hope in the world of Elden Ring, which is a world defined by cycles of violence perpetrated by inflexibility of ideology (their heresies, holiness, and faiths).
Miriel’s theme is one of flexibility. It is the idea that the order is not lost simply because it is broken. The foundation that the world is built on cannot be shattered just because there is toil in the world. But at the same time, it is the acknowledgment that it does need to be mended. It is an idea of unity in contradiction. The frenzied flame seeks to eliminate the order with retaliatory anger, destroying Marika’s body in the cutscene. The darkness in the age of stars comes from it, as if ranni used the foundation of the Elden Ring to launch her new age into effect. Despite the age of stars being vastly different than any age created within the confines of the Elden Ring, it doesn’t seem to be naturally destructive in the cutscene. And the symbol of the age is the moon. Figuratively, a moon can’t be a more poignant sign of natural change. The moon follows the sun, and never does not.
Additionally, radagon and rennala’s marriage is ruined by the interference of a god. It’s kind of funny to think that rannis ending keeps gods as far away from living beings as possible, as if to make divine intervention never have the power to ruin peace.
I think the themes of Miriel’s philosophy as well as his obsession with something so thematically similar to the tarnished wedding ranni (radagon and rennala) is a trait that links him closely to the ending. Maybe this all goes without saying. I found his words very convincing. In a playthrough where I was going to do the age of defilement out of curiosity, he changed my mind completely.